


for all that was lost in the wind

by starkindstrs



Series: for all that was lost [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Baby Morgan, Canonical Character Death, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, yes im SAD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-13 22:06:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16026920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkindstrs/pseuds/starkindstrs
Summary: Tony held his baby close to his heart and promised to come home.





	for all that was lost in the wind

Tony returned from Planet Titan about a week after The Snap. Nebula half carried Tony out of the Milano, the latter barely alive from the injuries after the fight. They managed to obtain contact with Earth and they were advised to put in coordinates to Wakanda so that he could receive the best aid for his injuries. Pepper flew to the country soon as she was informed, and she was there to see Nebula help a half dead Tony onto the gurney.

Pepper grabbed hold of Tony's hand and gently rest it on top of her stomach, eyes glistened with tears as Tony looked up at her in question.

"Fight for _us_ , Tony," she begged just before his eyes drifted shut. The operation went for nearly twelve hours, and it took another five days until he woke up to the sound of Pepper humming into his hair, one hand absently carressing her stomach and another gripping Tony's.

Tony cried when he woke up, burying his face into her stomach, murmuring _I'm sorry. I lost the kid. I lost, I failed everyone_. He cried louder when Pepper confirmed, teary-eyed, that she was two months pregnant, but it wasn't a happy announcement. He felt sick, to want to be happy knowing that Pepper was pregnant with their child when hundreds of thousands of parents out there just lost theirs and it was all his fault because he _didn't win the fight, he couldn't save them, he didn't deserve the happiness of an unborn child._

In the corner of the room stood Steve Rogers, face clouded, staring at him. They exchanged a nod, a silent promise to put aside their differences for this one last fight.

They worked together, again, as teammates. They didn't really call themselves the Avengers anymore, but it was how the rest of the world still addressed them as. Tony worked from the sidelines the first few months, still mostly bedridden, working on theories and calculations and all the science-magic involved with the stones with some of the fellow scientists left alive--Banner, Foster, Selvig, Princess Shuri to name a few--with the help of Stephen Strange's colleague Wong along with his "sorcerer friends".

 

* * *

 

 

Two weeks after Tony returned to New York, May Parker arrived in front of the compound, face red and fists clenched by her sides. She'd heard the news of Tony's return to Earth, yet not a word about her nephew despite the fact that Iron Man and Spider-Man were last seen shooting out of the sky together before The Snap. Tony let her in and had FRIDAY guide her to his bedroom. He still didn't have the strength to get up from his bed, working only with his tablets and holograms FRIDAY put up for him, so he waited on his bed, propped up against the headrest, as May Parker stomped her way through in anger.

She stopped when she found him, sitting on his bed defenselessly, paler and thinner than she had last seen him, face marred with purple bruises and half-healed wounds, eyes clouded gray with grief. He was shirtless, a tight bandage wrapped around his abdomen, a mess of scars all over his chest and arms, and he looked up at her with the most pathetic brown gaze she had ever laid eyes on, and she understood.

"No," she denied, but it was without anger. Not anymore.

"I'm sorry." He looked away, lips trembling, voice thick. "It's all my fault. I did this."

May collapsed on her knees next to Tony's bed, and they both cried for a son lost in the wind.

 

* * *

 

Pepper and Tony exchanged rings in the backyard of what once used to be Tony's Malibu residence. The wind blew against Pepper's strawberry blonde hair and her thin white dress pressed against her growing belly. Tony smiled for the first time in months, and if there were tears running down his cheeks as he kissed his wife, nobody commented on it.

 

* * *

 

Pepper had the baby a month earlier than her due date, due to a complication. For the nth time in his life, Tony felt as if he was inches from death himself.

But in the end, he held a healthy baby girl in his arms while her wife looked over contentedly at both of them, and he promised himself that he would give all he could for a better world for his daughter.

His daughter smiled in her sleep and a tear ran down his cheek.

"Morgan Maria," Pepper murmured from behind him. Warmth spread through his chest and Morgan opened up blue eyes curiously. "What do you think?"

He laughed wetly. "After your eccentric uncle? Sure. Yeah. Hi, Baby Morgan. I've loved you from the very first day."

 

* * *

 

Three months old Baby Morgan giggled loudly at the holoscreen, pointing at the image of her older brother swinging across buildings in a red-and-blue spandex suit while DUM-E fussed a number of pillows around her.

"'Bidey!" she shrieked. Three months old and already yelling out bursts of words. A true Stark genius. "'Bidey, 'Bidey, 'Bidey!"

"Yes, Morgan, that's your Spider-Brother," Tony commented from his place in front of one of the other screens, images of the colorful infinity stones glaring back at him, ignoring the way his heart ached. Morgan somehow loved watching Peter's home videos--random videos taken of himself flinging from a building, doing handstands, or just of himself and Tony in the workshop.

May once overheard him while he was mindlessly talking to his daughter, referring to her nephew as the baby's brother. Her heart, too, ached, but she didn't mind.

 

* * *

 

"Papa has to go."

Five months old Morgan Maria Stark stared curiously under ridiculously long, curly lashes, at her father. She understood better than most five months old, somehow guessing what expressions meant, from faces and tones of voices. As her father looked somberly back at her, she gave a pout.

"I'll be back, I promise." She felt Papa's fingers in her hair and it tickled, so she let out a giggle. She was pleased to see the somber look disappear from her father's face. "Just be a good girl that you are, huh, genius?"

"Ba ba ba," she argued. She reached out a hand to touch the funny blue light on her father's chest. She giggled again. "Nnna na ba?"

"Sure, of course I love you too."

"Mmmm." Her eyes drifted to follow Papa's hands, and she squealed in delight. "'Bidey!"

"Yes, yes, Spidey will keep you safe while I'm away." Her Papa's eyes were wet when she pressed the stuffed Spidey figure against her chest, and she loosened her grip on Spidey just in case holding him made her Papa sad. Maybe he wanted to hold Spidey instead?

"Ba ba ba. Baba. Sad?" She thrusted Spidey into Papa's hands. "Bababababidey."

Her papa held her tight in a hug, the stuffed Spidey pressed between them. He promised himself that no matter how much of a fight he had to give to defeat Thanos, he would come home to his baby. He wouldn't fight recklessly, the way he always did. He wasn't getting any younger, and he had Pepper and Morgan to come home to and he wouldn't let them down, he wouls never leave them if he could help it.

"I love you, baby. I'll see you when I get back."

For Morgan, for Peter, and all the sons and daughters Thanos sacrificed. Tony got on the jet and promised to come home.

**Author's Note:**

> my first ever mcu fic. kinda nervous. give me some love? pretty please?


End file.
